Pope finds his Nycz

Acting quickly in the wake of the resignation before his installation
of Warsaw archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus, Pope Benedict has named Bishop
Kazimierz Nycz as his replacement.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of Poland announced the appointment on Sunday, the International Herald Tribune reports.

Nycz,
the 57-year-old bishop of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg in northern Poland,
replaces Archbishop Wielgus, who stepped down at what was meant to be
his installation Mass on 7 January after admitting he cooperated with
the communist-era secret police.

Speaking with Vatican Radio
after the announcement, Nycz said it was a "difficult decision," but
also a "gift" to take up the challenges facing the Warsaw church.

"With great and truly unhidden humility I stand before all this," he said.

Shortly
after the Polish bishops announced the news, the Vatican made a brief
announcement of the appointment, giving a short biography and making no
mention of Wielgus.

According to the Tribune, Nycz is
widely seen as holding an inscrutable record under communism. John Paul
nominated him bishop of Krakow in 1988, where Nycz later organised the
last three visits of the Polish-born Pope to his homeland.

Nycz
said the church cannot brush over the cooperation of some priests with
the communist-era secret police, but "that one must approach the issue
calmly and apply the evangelical principles."

"If we don't, we are going to live from name to name, file to file, which would be very bad for the church," he added.

In 2004, John Paul named Nycz the bishop of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg diocese on the Baltic Sea coast.